


persephone rising

by misura



Category: Alex Benedict - Jack McDevitt
Genre: Gen, Spoilers: A Talent for War
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-14
Updated: 2021-02-14
Packaged: 2021-03-15 12:27:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 758
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29436033
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/misura/pseuds/misura
Summary: "I was beginning to lose hope."
Comments: 2
Kudos: 1
Collections: Chocolate Box - Round 6





	persephone rising

**Author's Note:**

  * For [salable_mystic](https://archiveofourown.org/users/salable_mystic/gifts).



For a man who had been marooned on a planet cut off from the rest of the universe for years, he looked calm.

She said, "Chris," then recalled the circumstances, the unreasonableness of assuming they were still friends. Tarien had called him 'Chris', of course, right until the very end.

Brothers were like that, she supposed. Siblings. Family.

 _"This is the hardest decision I have ever made,"_ Tarien had said, voice rough with emotion and unshed tears, and part of her had stood back from the rest of the audience and thought what a great showman he was, to speak thus of betraying his own brother.

The other part of her had been relieved the decision hadn't been hers. Disgusting, weak, but there you were. In the end, the idealist who had packed her bags and left to talk some sense into the Resistance hadn't survived contact with the reality of war, the forces of personality involved in games of empire.

He said, "I was beginning to lose hope."

 _Losing hope is what got you here._ The coldness of the thought shocked her. Of the two of them, she'd always been drawn to Chris more than to Tarien, the strategist and author over the politician.

Had anyone asked her in those early days, she'd have said Tarien to be the one most likely to give in, to bend and then break under the pressure. You never could trust politicians, after all.

With a certain wryness, she wondered if Chris would agree.

"It wasn't easy to find you again, after ... " How much did he know? Stupid question: he'd been cut off from all human contact since they put him here. _Nothing._ "After everything," she said.

"You're here now," Chris said. The expression on his face reminded her of their first meeting. She'd told him about her background, her work, her experiences on Khaja Luan and her opinions on the desirability of peace with the Ashiyyur, and he'd said the exact same thing, or something very close to it.

It bothered her that she couldn't recall his precise words now. At the time, it hadn't seemed important.

In the present ... in fairness, it still wasn't important.

"Yes," she said. "I'm here now. Chris ... " _I'm sorry. Forgive me. If I'd known ..._

 _"Would you have done anything different?"_ she could imagine him asking, with that half-smile of his he got when he was enjoying a conversation, an academic argument. Their fields hadn't overlapped much, but their interests did, from time to time. They'd talked, becomes friends as well as comrades-in-arms.

"If you're not here to take me back, I should warn you, I'm close to becoming desperate," Chris said. "I'd prefer to think I wouldn't seek to harm a friend, not unless there was no other choice, but ... "

"I'm here to take you back! Of course!" His expression suggested there was nothing 'of course' about it, but he was merciful enough not to say anything - or else he didn't dare risk angering or wounding her until she'd returned him to her ship, to human civilization.

_And then what?_

Chris sighed. "I'd hoped for Tarien. The way we spoke to one another last time ... I'd hoped for a chance to set things right. And, perhaps, to give him another piece of my mind. Is he dead?"

"Yes." No use beating around the bush. "He died a hero."

"Like me," Chris said, with a spark of his old humor. Then: "He deserved it. I suppose. No, let us not speak ill of the dead. I'm grateful you came. I know it can't have been an easy decision to make, or an easy search to undertake. Many people wouldn't have bothered."

"It was the right thing to do," she said.

"More evil deeds have been committed by those convinced that they were doing the right thing than by those lacking any strength of conviction," Chris said, sounding like he was quoting someone. "However, I'd like to think that this particular instance isn't one of them. Thank you, Leisha. I'm glad you survived, and that you came back for me."

He smiled, his mouth seeming to have trouble remembering how to for one, two seconds until he got it right and he looked again like the man who had agreed to try diplomacy, to negotiate.

"Come," she said, turning away from the sight of him. "Come. Let's get you out of here." Not 'home', not 'back to life', but between the two of them, she was sure that they would be able to work something out.


End file.
